title: Using palliative care assessment tools to influence and enhance clinical practice.
abstract: The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration focuses on supporting palliative care services in Australia to measure service- and patient-level outcomes, and to use these data to drive continuous quality improvement. The introduction of a suite of clinical assessment tools nationally has resulted in important enhancements to care provision at individual service level. Improved communication, enhanced assessment of patient needs, and improved identification of triggers for the need to change care plans or for referral have resulted from this change.
authors.affiliation: South Australia & Northern Territory at Palliative & Supportive Services, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. deborah.rawlings@flinders.edu.au
authors.forename: Deb
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rawlings
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hendry
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mylne
authors.forename: Maree
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Banfield
authors.forename: Patsy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yates
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D057189:Checklist / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000451:nursing; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*